The Cold One
by Spirit of the Brook
Summary: She was a young warrior, plagued by the death of her loved ones. In the battle, the shock hit her like a wave. Now, she's just waiting, waiting for the right chance for her to hit them as the next more powerful wave. Swinging from her jaws, sharp and cold... A one-shot of Tigerstripe.


**Cold Heart**

**A/N: Hey, guys! It's DarkSeal420 here with a one-shot today! It's based on Tigerstripe, an OC (I know, I have many of them). Have you guys been wondering why I write such freakin' sad stories? Because I'm best at writing them! For some reason, I try to make up a story and then it always turns out traumatic. I don't know why! Lol, but here's another one-shot. Oh, and thank you to a guest named Mistypool, Amberstorm233, amberleafisfantastic, Moonshine57, Windbritsle, Grasswing of WingClan, amberleaf4273, and smilesandrainbows for reviewing The Truth That Killed Me! I'll be giving a lot of shout-outs, so be prepared! Hope you enjoy and R&R!**

They came in waves, they did. They were the Dark Forest. Pouring through the camp entrance came a surge of dark warriors, their eyes gleaming in the darkness and their screeches of revenge ripping through the air like claws. We had attacked them yesterday and they had promised to retreat, but now they came in the night, tearing helpless kits away from their mothers and sacrificing their lives and killing warriors every time they flashed out their silver claws.

I was there of course. I am Tigerstripe, a warrior of ShadowClan. I fought bravely in this battle, tried to kill every undead warrior in my sight. And by undead, I mean almost invincible. I came across a silver mottled tom in the dark and he caught me by the throat and started to slowly slit it.

But that was when my father came. His name was Smokegaze, a brave, fearless warrior that would sacrifice his life for his Clan. Indeed, he would. He was not killed by the dark warrior, but was hurt badly. He finished off the Dark Forest warrior by slitting his throat with the last energy he could sustain. Then the warrior vanished.

The silver tom simply vanished, didn't slowly go down to the ground in pain, just left, leaving only a few splotches of blood behind.

I looked at Smokegaze in utter surprise then dragged him to the safety of the medicine cat den. I then left to continue in the fight.

At the end of our struggles, when the Dark Forest warriors had finally surrendered, I went to the medicine den to check on my father. But he was not where I left him.

I looked further into the medicine cat den, where our medicine cat, Thorncloud kept his herbs. That was when I found him. He was still, lying on the floor, his eyes glassy and his fur cold. I sniffed him and recoiled back from the scent that I knew instantly: **death**.

I thought of another time I had smelled death. I had just been a kit and I had been sleeping in the nursery with my mother, Leafthorn. I had woken up in the middle of the night to hear Leafthorn crying. I had opened my eyes and looked around only to see my brother, Oakkit's blank eyes staring straight at me. At first, I was confused. Why were Oakkit's eyes so foggy?

I waved a paw in front of his face only to jump in fright. Leafthorn was screeching, yowling so loud I could barely control myself. I backed away from Oakkit and bumped against Leafthorn's leg. She looked down and grabbed me by the scruff to drag me out of the nursery.

Eventually, I figured out what had happened to Oakkit. He had been attacked by a strange sickness in the middle of the night that had constricted his body so much that eventually, he died without the right amount of air. I came back to the present and sighed. I needed to figure out what had happened to Smokegaze.

I looked all around his body for any injuries or fear scent, but all I could smell and see was death and the injuries from the battle. Suddenly, I noticed something beside his mouth.

My eyes widened in surprise. "Deathberries," she whispered to herself. Smokegaze had already been weak from his wounds and someone had taken advantage of his weakness and fed him deathberries! I collapsed beside my father, sobbing. But I was too exhausted to do a vigil. I eventually fell asleep.

When I opened my eyes again, I was near a small waterfall and pond. The area was quiet and serene, overlooking tall mountains in the distance. Suddenly, I heard whispering at the other side of the waterfall.

I cocked my head curiously and started toward the thin sheet of water. I quickly jumped through the waterfall and into a dimly lit cave. I looked around and noticed unnatural lights at the corners of the cave walls.

"Who goes there?" I jumped in surprise at a deep, rumbling voice. I turned and looked to see a dark gray tom standing on a ledge in the cave wall. I nervously cleared my throat.

"I'm Tigerstripe, a warrior of ShadowClan," I meowed anxiously. "My father just died." I hoped that this tom would understand my pain.

The tom didn't say anything, just hopped down from the ledge. "I'm Stormwish," he said, dipping his head in respect. "I guard this cave. But you mustn't see Windrise now. She's having, let's say, a heavy party."

My mind begged for Stormwish to tell me about Windrise, but instead, he went straight to the truth. "Your father died, you say?" he rumbled, pacing slightly in front of me. I nodded. "Well, I'm sorry to say," he continued. "But one of your own Clanmates murdered him, took advantage of his weakness, did they? They fed him deathberries?"

My eyes widened. My Clanmates? Why would they do that? Then I considered how many cats disliked him because of how he was part kittypet. I could understand that.

"Who killed him?" I asked, eager for revenge. "I can't say," Stormwish said solemnly, his gaze fixed on me. "But the only way to figure it out is to kill each one." I nodded, my gaze darkening in deep hunger.

"Before you leave, though," Stormwish called as I turned to go back through the waterfall. "I want for you to have this to aid you. It was my father's very own revenge knife."

I nodded, grabbing the knife in my jaws and going out through the waterfall. As soon as my paws hit the water, I was awake again.

I looked to see the knife lying at my paws. Remembering my mission, I silently snuck out of the medicine cat den and to Hailstar's den. I brushed through the hanging ivy and pinpointed the pale gray she-cat sleeping in her nest.

I grasped the knife firmer in my jaws and stopped in front of her nest. "My first target," she hissed through clenched teeth. Then she sprang…

**A/N: Ooh, scary, Tigerstripe! I'll be doing a lot of one-shots about her because she's just so openly epic! Yay-yah! This is sort of based on Rory Butt's Cleavepool. It's sort of like the same concept except Tigerstripe doesn't exactly know who killed her father. Yeah, so put in the reviews how you think Stormwish's father got the revenge knife! Thanks for reading this. Peace!**

**_-DarkSeal420_**


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